Catcher in the Rye: Re-visited

“Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around – nobody big, I mean – except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be.” 
J.D. Salinger (The Catcher in the Rye)


This might be the third time I am reading this book. And every time I do theres something new to discover. Its just one of those books which can very unconsciously trigger so many thoughts in your mind. Every time you read it, you relate it to yourself or somebody you know and it fits right in. 


All morons hate it when you call them a moron. ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye.


Holden Caufield, the protagonist/narrator of the story is a character to whom I can relate to the least and at the same time, the most. Its because like him I, in-fact all of us for that matter can state bravely that we all hate phonies, but at some part of life we all become one, mostly unconsciously. But some  have the misfortune of knowing this deep down on a conscious level, which is like a burden that they carry, because they themselves fall under the category of the people they hate - "phonies", and they can't help it.
            The least because unlike Holden I will never have the guts to be as bold, as dauntless as to stand up against it and claim that what I want to be in life is just 'a Catcher in the Rye'

"when you are depressed the first thing you throw in the bin is your principles".

 Anyway, among the so many trails of thoughts which this book leaves, heres one for starters - 

Holden always keeps asking random cab drivers about where do they think the ducks in the Central Park go when the lake is all frozen. And as absurd as the question is, he gets all the more absurd answers to it. But he feels like its a quest which he is supposed to follow through no matter what.

When you are lost you tend to find the answers of your being, your existence in the most absurd questions. Do you really think Holden Caufield was interested where do the ducks or the fish for that matter go from the lake when its winter. Its just one of those things when getting the answers of such silly questions gives meaning to your life.

This quote from Catcher is one of my favorites :

"For is not every parent a catcher in the rye?

Is not every teacher a catcher in the rye?

Is not every good business leader a catcher in the rye?

Some of us choose to be the catcher. Some of us, like me, love the responsibility and embraces being a catcher in the rye in business. "

Sure. A little part of me dies a little when I miss someone who mistakenly goes off the edge of that crazy cliff. But, on the other hand, I become a better person for everyone I get to steer clear of the crazy cliff.

There are some of us who don’t really sign up to be the catcher and yet are put in that role. Many parents are that way. Not because they didn’t want to be but rather before you have a child it’s a little difficult to understand that crazy cliff is always there and you always have to keep at least a little eye on it. That is one reason I respect great parents.

And then teachers. Some begin a career as a teacher because they just love to teach. But as time goes on they realize a part of their responsibility is to watch those in the fields of rye to insure those who wander to close to the cliff that they at least know someone is paying attention. 

And then there are business leaders who go, go go. Always forward focused. And yet, over time, they realize to be the best leader a part of their role is to see the crazy cliff and catch people before they go over.

Ok. Maybe I’m nuts for seeing all this in the catcher in the rye but that is what I see.

And maybe that’s why I loved the book even when I was young.  A part of me wanted to be the catcher in the rye. I am sure anybody would have had me put in some institution if I had answered “be a catcher in the rye” when asked “so what do you want to be.”

But. Now that I am here, i.e., no longer that young?

Being the catcher in the rye may be the best job in the world.

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower : Stephen Chbosky

 The Perks Of Being A Wallflower : 
By Stephen Chbosky

           Have you ever wondered what it would be like to receive letters from someone you've never met? In The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Charlie, a 14 year old boy just entering high school, writes to a mystery person about life, love, and all the other things involved with growing up. He stands on the outside of life, making beautiful observations about how life doesn't always make sense. The people surrounding him make many efforts to have him "live his life" rather than sit on the sidelines. These attempts, along with the pains of growing up help Charlie to come to shocking realizations about his past. Stephen Chbosky has created an amazingly accurate picture of an introverted teenager growing up. Charlie is one of those rare characters who feels like a friend you never want to lose. This novel paints a beautiful picture that everyone should see.

"So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I am still trying to figure out how that could be."

       I cannot deny that I really loved Charlie’s character; he is so honest, real, blunt, and likable. From the start it seems that Charlie has a unique way of thinking and acting, and you may spend a lot of time trying to work out what’s “wrong” with him. After a while I realized that I relate to Charlie a lot more than I thought, and that we all probably relate to Charlie in some way or another. Thankfully, the book is wonderfully written and the language it conveys is very real and authentic.

"I think that if I ever have kids, and they are upset, I won't tell them that people are starving in China or anything like that because it wouldn't change the fact that they were upset. And even if somebody else has it much worse, that doesn't really change the fact that you have what you have".

    The thing that kept me interested in the book through out was Charlie's resemblance to the protagonist in 'Catcher In The Rye'. Because Charlie’s voice really did remind me of Holden’s and Holden has always been one of my favorite characters. Both of them sound young, but not necessarily immature young. They sound like kids who are confused about things, but really really do want to figure them out. And both of them are so honest. And they are smart, but very much unaware of how smart they are which makes it all the more intriguing.

“Sometimes people use thought to not participate in life.”

      One of my favorite things about the book was Charlie’s relationship with his English teacher, Bill. Bill gives Charlie a lot of books to read – books that the rest of the class isn’t being asked to read – and he makes him write essays about them. These include The Catcher in the Rye (of course), On the Road, To Kill a Mockingbird, Peter Pan, Hamlet, The Stranger, Walden, The Naked Lunch, Fountainhead and more. And at one point, Charlie says the following:

"I am starting to see a real trend in the kind of books Bill gives me to read. And just like the tape of songs, it is amazing to hold each of them in the palm of my hand. They are all my favorites. All of them."

He also says, Sometimes, I think Bill forgets that I am sixteen. But I am very happy that he does, which echoes my suspicion that it’s better to give teenagers books that will challenge them and make them think than to just assume they won’t understand anything.

His list includes two of my favorite books and provided me with a very worthy To-Read list for this month :)

"I guess what I’m saying is that this all feels very familiar… And all the books you’ve read have been read by other people. And all the songs you’ve loved have been heard by other people. And that girl that’s pretty to you is pretty to other people. And you know that if you looked at these facts when you were happy, you would feel great because you are describing ‘unity’” (95-96).

One last thing: There’s a surprising revelation towards the end of the book, and although I of course won’t spoil it for you, I just wanted to say how much I liked the way it was dealt with. Basically, Charlie has to deal with something terrible coming from someone he loves, and the book didn’t oversimplify things in the least. Charlie’s love for the person is still there, and it is one of the main reasons why he is so hurt, why everything is so difficult to deal with. And you don’t often see books acknowledging this when dealing with this particular issue. It although being highly critical and one that somewhere defines a lot of things in Charlie's behavior, is not blown out of proportion and is given the exact amount of consideration that it deserves, keeping enact all the feelings

 I am definitely looking forward to the film adaptation of the novel which is under production, with Stephen Chbosky writing the screenplay for the movie and Emma Watson & Logan Lerman as the main actors.

Heres a Poem from the book, which was written by Charlie's friend Michael (as his suicide note):

• Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines
  he wrote a poem
  And he called it "Chops"
  because that was the name of his dog
  And that's what it was all about
  And his teacher gave him an A
  and a gold star
  And his mother hung it on the kitchen door
  and read it to his aunts.

• Once on a piece of white paper with blue lines
  he wrote a poem
  And he called it "Autumn"
  because that was the name of the season
  And that's what it was all about
  And his teacher gave him an A
  and asked him to write more clearly
  And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
  because of its new paint.

• Once on a paper torn from his notebook
  he wrote a poem
  And he called it "Innocence: A Question"
  because that was the question about his girl
  And that's what it was all about
  And his professor gave him an A
  and a strange steady look
  And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
  because he never showed her.

• That's why on the back of a brown paper bag
  he tried another poem
  And he called it "Absolutely Nothing"
  Because that's what it was really all about
  And he gave himself an A
  and a slash on each damned wrist
  And he hung it on the bathroom door
  because this time he didn't think
  he could reach the kitchen.......

"But because things change. And friends leave. And life doesn’t stop for anybody."

• • "I know that things get worse before they get better because that's what my psychiatrist says, but this is a worse that feels too big."

For more details on the book:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Perks_of_Being_a_Wallflower